With widespread use of computing devices such as cell phones and laptops, what has become valuable is the security of the data carried on such devices. For example, cell phones may carry phone logs, emails and pictures of a user's family, while laptops may carry much more sensitive information pertaining to an enterprise or business.
To safeguard data, so called “kill pills” have been developed where devices such as cell phones can be destroyed or erased with remote instructions. Under one kill pill, a cellular messaging and telephony device may receive an instruction carried over a cellular network to destroy itself or its data. The receiving device then performs the instruction to erase its data. While it is possible for the device to be usable after the kill operation, the data on the device may be safeguarded after the instruction is issued.
A possible danger and/or inconvenience of utilizing devices such as handheld and/or mobile electronic devices is that if the handheld and/or mobile device is lost or stolen, the finder or thief may access all of the financial and/or personal information on the device. Currently a variety of methods are used to protect data on such devices, most commonly the utilization of the entering of a password and/or the entering of a combination of user name and password. However, it has been shown that the use of a password and/or the inconvenience that a user must input a password each time the information is to be accessed has been shown to be undesirable. In the first instance, it has been shown that passwords may be circumvented by a variety of techniques known and practiced by computer savvy persons, hackers, and the like. Further, in the event that a person wishes to access specific information using the portable electronic device, it is often an inconvenience that the person accessing the information is required to input a password each time such information is requested and/or desired.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide an ability to protect data on a mobile electronic device without the use of a password or other conventional means. There is also a need for a mobile electronic device that includes a separate access device which allows access to secured information on the mobile electronic device. Further, there is a need for a wireless access device that is separate from the mobile device and allows access to the personal and/or financial information on the device when the device is within a close proximity of the mobile device. Further still, there is a need for a method of providing access to personal and/or financial information on the mobile device by the utilization of a wireless access device. Yet further still, there is a need for a wireless access device that prevents access to the use of the mobile device unless the access device is within a close proximity of the mobile device.
It would be desirable to provide a system and/or method that provides one or more of these or other advantageous features. Other features and advantages will be made apparent from the present specification. The teachings disclosed extend to those embodiments which fall within the scope of the appended claims, regardless of whether they accomplish one or more of the above-mentioned needs.